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03.11
The 100-Year Starship
By
IEEE-USA Staff
Mankind has the technology to
put humans on the Moon and to explore our solar
system, but the concept of sending humans on an
Interstellar flight to colonize far-away planets
is still a concept relegated to the realm of
science fiction. Or so it was until the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and
the NASA Ames Research Center announced last
October that it would be partnering to begin
planning the first step in the next era of space
exploration — the “100-Year Starship” needed for
a journey between the stars.
The project is the $1 million
brain-child of Pete Worden, head of the NASA
Ames Research Center, and David Neyland,
director of DARPA's tactical technology office,
as they compared notes on how to inspire young
researchers to think about the technologies
needed for space travel.
"For generations, people have
been excited and inspired by exploration," said
Dave Neyland. "This study hopes to inspire
research on interstellar space travel, something
with a very long time horizon. Through it, we
hope to excite and encourage a younger
generation that was not yet born when man first
walked on the moon."
According to DARPA, the
“100-Year Starship” study will recommend an
organizational approach to developing and
maturing the technology portfolio needed to
enable long-distance manned space flight a
century from now.
According to Neyland, one of the
keys to success of the project will ultimately
be creating incentives for private sector
leadership. “We’re here because we’d like to
start with a mechanism that gets this long-range
project out of the government, and make sure it
is an energized and self-sustaining enterprise."
He added “"Looking at history,
most significant exploration, like crossing
oceans or continents for the first time, was
sponsored by patrons or groups outside of
government.”
“The 100-Year Starship study is
about more than building a spacecraft or any one
specific technology,” added Paul Eremenko, DARPA
coordinator for the study. “We endeavor to
excite several generations to commit to the
research and development of breakthrough
technologies and cross-cutting innovations
across a myriad of disciplines such as physics,
mathematics, biology, economics, and
psychological, social, political and cultural
sciences, as well as the full range of
engineering disciplines to advance the goal of
long-distance space travel, but also to benefit
mankind.”
DARPA also anticipates that the
advancements achieved by such technologies will
have substantial relevance to Department of
Defense (DoD) mission areas including
propulsion, energy storage, biology/life
support, computing, structures, navigation, and
others. Beyond the DoD and NASA, these
investments will reinvigorate private
entrepreneurs, the engineering and scientific
community, and the world’s youth in a bold quest
for the stars.
The study kicked off with a two
day Strategic Planning Workshop held in January,
which brought together 29 visionaries from
diverse backgrounds. Their mission was to steer
efforts to develop a business model, establish a
charter and develop the organizational construct
needed to affect this long-term strategy. Over
the course of two days, members discussed the
requirements for seeding research that would
enable interstellar flight.
In an email to AOLNews,
Elizabeth Bear, noted science fiction author and
workshop participant, described the meeting,
noting that "basically, the intent of the
meeting was to brainstorm the plausibility of a
self-sustaining non-governmental organization
dedicated to supporting technological,
sociological, scientific and industrial
breakthroughs that would lead to the 'ability'
to build a starship -- that is to say, a space
ship capable of interstellar flight -- by 2111."
Workshop discussions ranged
beyond the financial and technical challenges to
address a wide range of issues, such as why
humans should visit the stars, the risks
involved, the economic and
socio-political-religious obstacles, and the
type of governance structure needed to sustain
that effort.
Other topics, such as
identifying a destination for a 100-Year
Starship, bringing together a core group of
experts/enthusiasts, interest groups and private
funding, and the continued importance of science
and technical education for the youth of the
world were also discussed at length.
The workshop concluded with many
unanswered questions and unanimous agreement
that there was a great deal of work ahead.
Planning for follow on activities is underway,
and the study is scheduled for completion by the
end of 2011.
A website and Facebook page have
been established to help the public track the
progress of the 100-Year Starship study. For
more information, see:
http://100yearstarshipstudy.com or
http://www.facebook.com/pages/100-Year-Starship/#!/pages/100-Year-Starship/182066625158495
Comments may be submitted to
todaysengineer@ieee.org.
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